


Awakened

by Maxmerica



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Daddy Charming, F/M, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Land Without Magic (Once Upon a Time), Neverland (Once Upon a Time), Storybrooke (Once Upon a Time), enemies to found family, mama Snow, papafire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27340018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxmerica/pseuds/Maxmerica
Summary: The potion doesn’t work. Now Charming, Snow, and Rumple now have all their memories and so must reluctantly team-up to find their children. But will they be able to gain their children’s trust and bulid the familes they've always dreamed of while finding a way to break the curse?
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Emma Swan, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Prince Charming | David Nolan & Emma Swan, Prince Charming | David Nolan & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Prince Charming | David Nolan/Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard, Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard & Emma Swan, Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 11
Kudos: 14





	Awakened

**Author's Note:**

> I know I know I shamelessly stole a few quotes from the episode but they were super important

“It’s easy for you to say, you don’t have a child who’s out there by herself,” David shouted, preparing to raise his sword at the former imp. 

“You have no idea what’s out there for me,” Rumplestiltskin replied, attempting to keep his tone neutral while trying not to wonder if Bae was even alive anymore. 

“What do you mean,” Snow asked diplomatically. 

“ I too have a child out there. A son,” he said, having no idea what compelled him to lay bare his soul to the former royals. 

“Was he the result of your meeting with the brief flicker of light,” David asked.

“No. You see one of the many downsides of being the Dark One is immortality. Bae’s mother was born and died almost 300 years ago.” 

“How do you you he’s even alive then,” Snow asked despite already knowing the answer in her heart. 

“Despite what you may think deary , I still have my heart and I would know if my boy was gone.” 

“So you know why we have to find Emma,” David countered. 

“Yes but I will warn you that even if you find a way to get to Emma and bring her into town you’ll still have to deal with the fact that all your other loved ones are under this curse for the next 18 years. Plus there’s the issue of David’s memories or rather the lack thereof.” 

“I don’t care, I have to see Emma. Make sure she’s safe,” David said.

“Come with us. See your son. Even if you’re going to drink that potion and forget everything at least you’ll know he’s safe when Emma breaks the curse,” Snow offered. 

“Thank you for the offer but I’ve gone this long without seeing my boy, I don’t think 18 years is going to make that big a difference especially since I won’t feel it once I drink the potion,” he said pulling out the vail from his pocket again. “I’ll just drink this and then head back to my shop and leave it with you two if you change your minds about forgetting this all happened.”

Rumplestiltskin drank a small drop of the blue liquid but nothing seemed to happen. He didn’t feel any different. He knew why he was standing in the middle of the abandoned farmhouse with the queen turned school teacher and her formerly comatose husband. “On second thought would you mind sharing the pixie flower with me as the potion didn’t work.” 

“Do you think it’s because you are or rather you were the Dark One,” Snow asked. 

“Perhaps deary, perhaps.” 

“Okay so it’s settled then we’ll go see our children and try and bring them into town,” David said, holding out his hand for Snow and Rumplestiltskin to shake on it. Reluctantly Snow and Rumplestiltskin shook his hand. 

“Let’s find our children and bring them home,” Snow said as she grabbed David’s hand with the pixie flower gripped tightly in their fists. 

Suddenly a plain white door appeared in the middle of the room. With great excitement and unease they opened the door to find their baby girl sitting on a clean bed in a plain bedroom listening to music through headphones. 

“She’s beautiful,” David whispered, his voice full of pride and awe as he looked upon his daughter for the first time in ten years. 

“She really is,” Snow said with her voice of the same emotions as her husband. “But we can’t just grab her that would be kidnapping and besides it looks like she has parents in this world,” she reasoned. “I mean even if this is an orphanage or a group home we’d still be on the line for kidnapping if we just grab her.” 

Unbeknownst to the trio, once the couple turned away from the doorway it closed without Emma knowing that anything unusual had been happening on the other side of her closet door.

“What’s a group home,” David asked, reminding Snow just how bad it was that he didn’t have any memories of the Land Without Magic. 

“A group home is like an orphanage except not everyone there has no living parents. Some kids live there temporarily while they’re parents go to prison for offenses that don’t affect their ability to be a good parent. Other kids are there because they’re in between foster parents. And some are there because they ran away from home regardless of whether they ran from their biological, adoptive, or foster parents,” Snow explained. 

“How do you know all that?” 

“Mary-Margert is a school teacher so she had to learn a lot about the laws to protect children. Besides she wanted to be a mom but was considering doing it alone.” 

“Oh,” he said. “So how do we go about becoming foster parents so we can get Emma?” 

“There’s a lot of paperwork and even if we’re approved that’s no guarantee that they’re going to place Emma with us. I mean we could say that we’re looking at fostering older kids rather than babies and toddlers like a lot of people do but there’s still problems with that. For one thing I don’t think we can physically leave Storybrooke. Plus there’s the issue of you not having any memories of this world so you have no idea how to function,” Snow said, beginning to ramble and get upset near the end. 

“Wasn’t I in the hospital in a coma?” 

“Yes so?” 

“I believe your husband is suggesting that you pretend that whatever terrible accident landed him in the hospital and in a coma gave him aminesia. That should be enough for a caseworker to approve your case despite Charming's lack of memories of the modern world,” Rumplestiltskin said, reminding the couple that he was there. “I’m a lawyer so I’d be more than capable of cutting through the red tape and getting you approved in a timely fashion. And while I can’t guarantee that they’ll place your daughter with you right away, I can try by mentioning that you two have always been fascinated with the Emma Doe case and that our little town isn’t too far from where she was found all those years ago.” 

“Okay that solves those problems but there’s still the issue of David and I not being married here and my one bedroom apartment not being a suitable place to raise a child.” 

“Well, where would you like to live Miss Blanchard? I promise to keep the rent reasonable.” 

“The farm house on the other side of town,” Snow replied automatically. 

“A fine choice. Tomorrow just give me the key to your apartment and I’ll give the keys to your new home. While you’re at work David and my assistant Dove can move your stuff to the house.” 

“Thank you,” David said.

“So how do we solve the problem of us not being married here. Regina, who’s definitely awake and probably has been the whole time, knows that Mary-Margret is an unmarried woman. It would be near impossible to just walk into town claiming David’s magically my husband without me having mentioned it before which is even more suspicious when you remember that David has been a John Doe at the hospital for the past however many years.” 

“The curse is very malleable and open to change. You two should have no trouble convincing the curse and thus everyone that you’ve been married the whole time. That you’ve always lived at the farmhouse.” 

“Thank you,” the couple said at the same time.

“That really solves all the problems that I could think of,” Snow said thankfully, handing over the pixie flower. “Go find your son.” Rumplestiltskin took a deep breath and tightly gripped the flower thinking of his son and how sorry he was for what happened all those years ago. Keeping his eyes closed he whispered, “Baelfire,” saying his son’s name out loud for the first time in nearly three centuries. 

At the utterances of his name the door to where Baelfire was appeared in the middle of the room just like Emma’s door had minutes ago. Unlike Emma’s door Baelfire’s was covered in vines and looked like it was carved into a tree. Rumplestiltskin took one more steading breath and opened his eyes pushing the door open having no idea why his heart was pounding in his chest at least until he opened the door. 

“No. No. No. Anywhere but there,” he muttered to himself as he looked around at the island jungle where his son was living and he realized with a sick thud had been for a long time because there was his boy looking worse for wear but still unmistakably fourteen years old. “He was supposed to be here. That’s what that annoying blue flee said. If he took the bean we’d end up where my curse has no power but no he had to end up there. Literally the worst place in all the realms,” he muttered to himself trying to calm himself down before he ran headfirst into that godforsaken jungle and grabbing his boy; consequences be damned. 

“Where is there exactly,” David asked. 

“Never-Land,” Rumplestiltskin hissed out. 

“So we can just grab Baelfire and bring him here,” Snow said, jumping right into planning mode. 

“While yes we can do that we shouldn’t. Never-Land is dangerous for children and hates adults so we must be cautious.” 

“What about Captain Hook,” Snow asked. “Perhaps he can help us navigate Never-Land.”

“Not going to happen. The good captain and I have an ugly history and he’s sworn bloody vengeance against me.” 

“Okay so that’s a no go,” David said. “So how can we do this” 

“I’ll need a few days to formulate a plan and find a few items that I’ll need to convince my son that I’m who I say I am.” 

“So we should get started on introducing David to the town.” 

“That would be wise,” Rumplestiltskin said as he turned to leave the farmhouse, closing the door to Baelfire behind him.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> An AU I’ve been wanting to write for a while figured NanoWriMo was as good as a time as any to finally sit down and write it :)


End file.
